Aging in rural communities: Older persons’ narratives of relocating in place to maintain rural identity

Joyce Weil

doi:10.4148/1936-0487.1076

Abstract

Literature often looks at older persons’ rural-to-urban moves, but relocation within the same region is less explored. The purpose of this study is to understand the perspectives of older persons who move to age in town in the same rural setting. Using data from 16 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with older persons in a rural community and directed content analysis, this study examines these older persons’ assessments of their current living situation, still seen as living rurally but now in a more populous location. Although moving within a rural environment, for different reasons, they do not report feelings of being “stuck in place.” Rather, older adults interviewed had positive thoughts of earlier life (i.e. in farm settings) while seeing benefits of being “in town” and close to amenities (e.g. activities, services, and family) while still feeling a part of the same rural place. Six themes emerged about the move. “Here and now, I am doing things” revealed the move increased social activities. The “Widow’s or widower’s move” found relocation due to spousal death. Couples moved as their own choice for amenities or less house/land-related responsibilities. The “I’ve always moved around” group saw relocation as a natural part of life. Others moved to be close to family, but it was their own choice. And the last theme showed positive or negative impressions of the farmer identity: either “get me off the farm!” or, “still a farmer at heart.” Differences in the experience of transition, sense of insiderness, and place-continuity appear in this less-studied group.

Highlights

Older persons in rural settings are described as having unique concerns
In case studies with rural older persons, researchers found remaining in a rural setting provided the older person with a sense of life satisfaction, thankfulness, security, and hope and raised concerns about vulnerability, struggle, and being left behind or alone (Davies, 2011; Ness, Hellzen, & Enmarker, 2014).the sense of placebased community may be a romanticized notion of quaint “country life” while, in reality, the loss of resources and being bound to a place may make those who age in a rural environment feel marginalized (Dean, Sharkey, Nalty & Xu, 2014; Erickson, Call & Brown, 2012; Goins & Krout, 2006)
As Pilgeram and Amos (2015) suggest, qualitative work can add to the body of literature about rural settings

Summary

Introduction

Older persons in rural settings are described as having unique concerns. In case studies with rural older persons, researchers found remaining in a rural setting provided the older person with a sense of life satisfaction, thankfulness, security, and hope and raised concerns about vulnerability, struggle, and being left behind or alone (Davies, 2011; Ness, Hellzen, & Enmarker, 2014).the sense of placebased community may be a romanticized notion of quaint “country life” while, in reality, the loss of resources and being bound to a place may make those who age in a rural environment feel marginalized (Dean, Sharkey, Nalty & Xu, 2014; Erickson, Call & Brown, 2012; Goins & Krout, 2006). Part of the gentrification included a demand for better health care and pressure put on the housing market when older persons were unable to afford housing (Connell & Dufty-Jones, 2014; Nelson, Nelson & Trautman, 2014) This trend is coupled with increased Latino rural moves. Torres-Gil and Lam’s Stuck-in-Place (2005) model posits several social identities and “economic-social-racial disparities” (e.g., immigrant status, race, ethnicity, being oldest-old, disability status, gender, and socio-economic status) that create little “policy advocacy for the disempowered.” Such older persons have “fewer choices and are, stuck in place” (Torres-Gil & Hofland, 2012, 73). Other theorists found moves can be prompted by an unexpected change in an older person’s daily life or increased service desire and/or need Lifestyle transitions, such as changes in dependency levels, can trigger residential moves. They suggested amenity moves (at retirement for a better climate or lifestyle) are based on seeking better goods and services, while assistance moves are done to acquire greater levels of care (Litwak & Longino, 987)

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